Ideas and Lashes: The Prison Diary of Akbar Mohammadi

By Nasrin Mohammadi and Akbar Mohammadi

This book is about a young man (Akbar Mohammadi), a student at Tehran University get arrested during the student uprise in July 1999. His only crime was defending the basic human rights in Iran. He was encarserated, tortured and eventually killed in prison after seven years

He talks in his memoire about the barbaric torture and treatment imposed upon political prisoners in Iran by the Islamic regime in Iran.

After his death, his sister (Nasrin Mohammadi) picks up where he left off and Tells the world about her brother.

She talks about how the family could Cope with this extremely difficult situation

Akbar was a follower of Gondhi and Martin Luther King and belived in Non-Violant movement.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 21, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477143230

Nasrin Mohammadi

Akbar Mohammadi was an Iranian Student at Tehran University involved in the 18th of Tir crisis, also known as the July 1999 Iran student protest, Iran’s biggest Pro-democracy demonstrations since the 1979 Islamic Revolutions. As His Sister Nasrin Mohammadi, explains that how he was later killed at Evin prison, causing an International outcry.

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Copyright © 2012 by Akbar Mohammadi.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2012912663

ISBN:   Hardcover     978-1-4771-4322-3

             Softcover       978-1-4771-4321-6

             eBook             978-1-4771-4323-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. Date: 09/21/2016

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1   Inside Towhid Prison

Chapter 2   How Many Molotov Cocktails Did You and Your Friends Make?

Chapter 3   Photographs and Written Statements

Chapter 4   The Causes of AIDS and Poverty in Iran

Chapter 5   Our Day in the Revolutionary Court

Chapter 6   DAY 29

Chapter 7   My Sentencing at the Revolutionary Court

Chapter 8   Two Toenails and the Case against My Father

Chapter 9   Judge Kavoosi’s Cousin as My New Case Manager

Chapter 10   Hunger Strikes

Chapter 11   The Murder of Zahra Kazemi and Meeting with Mr. Bakhshi

Chapter 12   Fragments

Afterword by Nasrin Mohammadi

Appendices

Amnesty International Press Release

Final Chapter

A

special thanks to Mr. Morad Moallem for believing in me and standing by me in publishing this book from the beginning to the end

I would like to give my outmost appreciations to, Iranian Kurdish Democratic Party, Prince Reza Pahlavi, Dr. Michael A. Ledeen, Mr. Richard Perle, Morad Moallem and all other people who helped me in bringing my other brother Manouchehr Mohammadi from Iran,in to the United States after Akbar’s death.

IN THE DARK OF THE NIGHT

It has been for some time now that in this solitude,

Silence has been the color of my lips.

A cry far away calls me, but my feet are bound

In the dark of the night.

There is no hope in the darkness.

All doors and walls are closing in.

If a shadow slithers on the ground,

It is only an illusion in sight.

People breathe sadness.

For some time now in this despair

All joy is gone.

The spell of the night

Closes in on me and my sorrow.

I try hard, but it laughs at me.

Whatever effort I made in the day

Went up in smoke when night came along.

The drawings I made at night are nowhere to be found.

It’s been a while now that I,

Like others, see only silence on the lips.

There is no movement in this darkness.

My hands and feet are bound

In the dark of the night.

Sohrab Sepehri

Popular Iranian poet and painter

who committed suicide in 1980

INTRODUCTION

MY NAME IS AKBAR MOHAMMADI. I am a student political activist. You may have heard on the radio or television or read in the newspapers about my continuing struggle against the Islamic republic of Iran. I am not sure if you have any idea what happened to me in the Towhid and Evin prisons. I want you to know. By writing this memoir, I wish to expose the true nature of Iran’s present rulers. The light of democracy and freedom will one day replace the dark shadow of dictatorship that has taken over our country. All political prisoners will be freed, and the reign of terror, oppression, and fear will come to an end.

I was born into a middle-class family in Amol in the luscious green province of Mazandaran, the land of Maziar, a great Persian warrior. Nearby is the land of Babak Khoramdin, the heroic leader who led the freedom fighting movement aimed at overthrowing the Abbasid Caliphate after the Arab conquest of Iran in 838. He was betrayed, tortured, and eventually executed by the caliphate.

After finishing high school in 1994, I took the University of Tehran entrance exam and was admitted to the School of Health and Human Resources, where I studied to become a social worker.

As a freedom-loving student, I saw the injustice and the lack of freedom prevailing in our society and began my political activities. I was always interested in politics, and when I first entered the university, I immediately got involved. My first action was to protest against the quality of food at the dormitory for the School of Health and Human Services. I did not live in that dorm, but the conditions there were objectionable. I asked the students to gather their belongings and stay overnight at the university. The next day a seminar took place in the main auditorium, and we held a sit-in in front of the office of the university president.

My second activity was to organize the Islamic Student Association. The university rules and regulations forbade the formation of any organization, even if it was Islamic. But I put pressure on the administration with signed petitions. The officials accepted our terms, and together with six friends who were not afraid of the consequences, we were able to meet formally. They told me, Akbar, we have common beliefs, but we also have secular ideas. I introduced them to the university officials as the founders of the association. The Herasat, the group responsible for security inside the university and indirectly connected to the Ministry of Intelligence, did not approve of them.

We had two months to hold elections for the officers of our association. I hoped it would be a free election. Unfortunately, my nomination was rejected, and members of the University Basij, who followed the orders of the Iranian revolutionary Guards, won most of the posts. I asked my friends what had changed their minds.

We accepted four of the founders and disapproved of other two. You were rejected because you have declared your enmity toward our leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, and you are antirevolution.

You really disappoint me, I said. Yesterday you were on our side, and today the Herasat has put so much pressure on you that you back down and call me a traitor. The majority voted for me, and you are the minority.

Herasat told us that you are not allowed to participate.

With the help of my conservative friends, the Islamic Student Association became more pro-Basij than Basij itself. These traitors invited the General Commander of Ansar Hezbollah and leader of the Basij, Massoud Dehnamaki, to speak at the university gathering. He defended the rule of our country by the clergy and the corrupt Ayatollah Imami Kashani. I demanded the right to speak. Only after protests by the students over the association’s reluctance was I given the microphone. I spoke about the corruption within the clergy, the years of injustice by the present regime, and the pressures put on all of us by the Ansar Hezbollah vigilante groups.

My words were so provocative that for five minutes the students would not stop their applause. About fifty Basij started to come toward me but were told to stop as the atmosphere was in my favor. They stayed silent while I finished my talk. The association did not invite anyone else from the government to speak.

The tragic deaths of the Forouhars happened in November 1998. Dariush and Parvaneh Eskandari Forouhar were husband and wife who founded Iran’s Nation Party and were stabbed to death by rogue agents of the Ministry of Information in their home.

The Salaam newspaper uncovered the truth about the murders and was subsequently closed. This event had an enormous impact on many of us. My older brother, Manouchehr Mohammadi, and I were arrested during a peaceful demonstration that began at the University of Tehran on 18 Tir 1378 (July 8, 1999) and spread to many other cities until the regime’s Revolutionary Guards stopped us. (It was ironic that I was kicked out of the university four years later because of my long absence while in prison.)

After his successful election for a second term, President Mohammad Khatami was supposed to speak at the University of Tehran. Demonstrations were held near Enghelab Square and Laleh Park, and a friend and I were targeted as the main organizers. The revolutionary guard attacked and arrested ten of us. Six men in civilian clothes used maximum cruelty as they hit my head on the ground several times. I protested against this cruel treatment. One guard spoke on my defense and told them to be ashamed of their actions. He saved me. We were taken to the main headquarters of the guard near Ferdowsi Square and were interrogated for one hour. I was driven to jail, where I was blindfolded on arrival and transferred to a minibus to be driven to another jail.

Ten more blindfolded people got in. A uniformed guard on the bus told me to lie down on the floor, but I objected. He started beating us with a baton. Another officer on board told him, You have no right to hit these young people, absolutely no right.

A man in civilian clothing said to the officer, Shut up, you moron. I am from the Intelligence Division of the Security Forces and a colonel. My rank is above yours. This is the last time you will interfere in such matters. The officer stood silent. That same evening, Sardar Naghdi of the Security Forces came to our cell. He slapped us in the face and accused us of instigating the demonstration.

How much should the system suffer because of you, traitors? If you give television interviews and apologize for your actions, I will release every one of you.

Eight students agreed and said they had made a mistake, but the rest of us stood firm. The harsh tortures began. I told them, The hell with you and your dictatorial regime. This was followed by more beatings. They wanted us to say we were sorry for what we did.

We were taken to the courthouse and fined 19,000 toumans (approximately US$1.10). We claimed we had nothing to do with the protest. On the third day we were released after paying fines. Manouchehr, Tabarzadi, Safari, Salamati, and Emami of the Student United Front gave speeches at Laleh Park. The first speaker was Safari followed by Manouchehr. He collapsed while speaking and was taken to Arya Hospital by his friends. On that same day, Ansar Hezbollah injured many students and their supporters.

The first meeting we held as a group was under the name Intellectuals of the Geophysics Department, in the building next to the university dormitories. We spoke of how to mobilize the students, and we decided to have a sit-in protesting conditions in the dormitories. The next morning many students gathered. Manouchehr started to speak. He was a good speaker, and many people were immediately attracted to him. We walked toward the dormitories, and eventually the gathering became political. Students attacked the offices of Food Services (over the quality of food at the university).

The next day we gathered petitions, got thousands of signatures, and had Manoucher to represent us. We had thousands of signatures. We also stated our grievances in a letter and asked that the situation be changed in two weeks. Manouchehr presented one copy to the head of the University of Tehran and another to the office of President Khatami. Three weeks passed, and we heard nothing.

In the month of Ramadan, Manouchehr and I were identified as the main instigators of dormitory unrest. We notified the other students that the next night we would not accept the food but would throw it out. This action took place, and everyone poured out the food. Our sit-in started. Manouchehr and I were at the forefront of the protest and walked to the dormitories. Manouchehr spoke out at every step and aroused the students who followed us until we reached the entrance to the dormitories. We were about three thousand students from the geophysics department. We, the males, were outside, while the female students remained inside the dormitories.

The doors were locked. Manouchehr stood on top of a car and began to speak.

Students were now agitated. female students applauded him from the windows. Every few moments, students of both sexes interrupted Manouchehr’s speech. The female students asked for help to break the locks so that they could join in. A few people who were surely agents told Manouchehr that it was late and that it would not be wise for women to come out at this hour. They wanted Manouchehr to break out so the female students would too and so they could harass them and blame it on Manouchehr.

Instead, my brother apologized to the female students and informed them of the presence of intelligence agents. He said, I ask all of you to stay put and protest in your own dorms while we stay outside.

Now we were about twenty thousand. Every student had joined us. When the speeches were over, we walked out of the university. I was at the front of the demonstration. Manouchehr spoke in a harsher tone when we heard that several cars with agents had approached and infiltrated our ranks. A group of men attacked Manouchehr and put him in a car, and the students ran toward the car to rescue him. We chanted, Leave our country alone! The agents ran in fear.

The students in the dormitories chanted, We are with you! We support you, courageous Mohammadi! For five hours we halted traffic at the intersection of the Unknown Martyr. Revolutionary Guard commandos arrived and started to attack us. Students ran away until Manouchehr spoke. They gained courage from his words and came back to face the security forces. Now the Revolutionary Guard was attacked by the students and sought refuge in private homes.

Manouchehr asked the students to leave the commandos alone. If they have not harmed you, have mercy on them. We listened to his advice. A few of the agents shouted, Why are you being deceived by the likes of Mohammadi?

They threatened me with violence if I did not tell the students to go back to their dorms. I started a human chain to trap the agents, and they tried to break through. Students, I said, don’t let a few agent provocateurs break your ranks. They are here to stop our solidarity. The agents got away and dispersed among the mass of students. Dear friends, be aware that there are agents trying to infiltrate our ranks and create chaos among us. The agents quickly left.

The presence of antirevolt commandos increased. Manouchehr spoke with more intensity, and the will of the students became stronger. Students attacked the security guards